EuPRAXIA-DN Camp on Innovation held in Pecs

On 6^th - 7^th October 2025, the EuPRAXIA Doctoral Network held a two-day Camp hosted between the University of Pécs and Szentagothai Research Centre in Pécs, Hungary.  The camp explored the innovations that the EuPRAXIA facility and plasma accelerators in general will enable. Talks looked at how plasma accelerators can lead to innovative applications across medicine, biology, chemistry and material science among other areas.

Participants at the EuPRAXIA-DN Camp III.

The talks were split across four main sessions.  Each of these sessions was introduced by an hour-long invited keynote talk, followed by selected contributed talks.  There was also a poster session and an opportunity to attend a lab tour at the Szentagothai Research Centre to gain an awareness of the valuable work being carried out there.

To open the camp, network coordinator Professor Carsten P Welsch, and Professors András Komócsi and Gábor Almási of the University of Pecs welcomed the 27 workshop participants, amongst whom there were Fellows from the Doctoral Network, invited key-note speakers and external participants from institutions across Europe. 

Professor Bernhard Hidding of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf was the first to deliver an invited talk, introducing the topic of high-brightness X-rays for biology and chemistry.  After lunch, Dr Sonja Gerlach of Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) Munich gave the second invited talk on the medical applications of plasma accelerators. After some time to discuss the day’s presentations, the academic element of day one was concluded with a poster session, allowing for discussion and relationship building between camp participants.

In the evening, attendees had the chance to dine at Pécs TV tower, enjoying traditional Hungarian food as well as a spectacular view over the city of Pécs.

Day two kicked off with an invited talk by Professor Zulfikar Najmudin of Imperial College London who introduced Betatron radiation applications.  This was followed by half-hour long invited talks by Dr Gergő Krizsán and Professor László Pálfalvi of the University of Pécs about terahertz pulse sources and terahertz-driven electron acceleration using a parabolic mirror or a paraboloid ring.  The final invited talk in this session was given by Dr István Földes of the Wigner research centre and covered spectral interferometry with high harmonics, isolated attosecond pulses from laser plasmas on solid targets.

After lunch, the final session began with an invited talk from Dr Thomas Pacey of STFC, which covered high-impact beamlines for R&D hubs.  Dr Mark Aladi of the Wigner centre followed with a talk on configurations of targets and detectors for femtosecond laser-driven acceleration and fusion. 

Prof Welsch said: “The Camp was a fantastic opportunity for our Fellows to exchange ideas with leading experts and to see first-hand how cutting-edge accelerator research can lead to real societal impact.”

The EuPRAXIA Doctoral Network would like to express its thanks to all invited speakers for their valuable contributions.  Special thanks go to Szabolcs Turnár and Krisztina Fertői-Héra and the team at University of Pécs for their support in organising the camp.

All presentations can be found at the event website.